


Mice in a Cage

by angel1876



Category: Portal (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Imagine your OTP
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-07
Updated: 2015-09-07
Packaged: 2018-04-19 15:49:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4752068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angel1876/pseuds/angel1876
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Imagine your otp are mice curled up in the same corner of a cage in a pet store.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mice in a Cage

He curled up into a tiny ball, withdrawing into the corner as the dish of food was placed on the opposite end of the cage. His long empty stomach growled painfully, but he ignored it, knowing he didn’t stand a chance against the sudden avalanche of flailing bodies and barred teeth. They attacked the bowl and fought over the colored pellets, many of them getting injured in the process. There were too many mice in that cage, and not enough food to go around, so what had once been a peaceful place had tuned into a battlefield. He hadn’t eaten in several days, and he wasn’t going to anytime soon, because things were so desperate that he’d likely get his throat ripped out. 

The activity of humans was slowly calming down, and he looked out mournfully at a little girl as she peeked into the cage. After a moment, he turned his back on her and returned to watching the rush, none of his kind even bothering to acknowledge yet another human’s attention. It had been awhile since any of them were adopted, and most had lost hope. He himself had come to accept that if any of them were getting out of there alive, he would not be one of them. 

He looked sick. He wasn’t, but he looked it. His fur was white, but flecked with cream and brown, making him look dirty no matter how clean he was. One eye was black, but the other was grey, and bulged slightly from his skull. He looked like he wouldn’t last a day in a new owners home, so no one ever gave him a second glance. 

“What do you mean you got another order? We can’t take care of the ones we have, and you just-”

“They were going to be sent to a lab, Gladys.”

“So? At least they’d be taken care of there. We can’t even keep half of our animals fed anymore!”

“Do you know what they do to these guys in the lab?”

“Can’t be worse than starvation.”

The queen of the store argued with the cleaner as he approached, a wooden box in his hands. The mouse curled in the corner looked at it in horror, realizing that there would be even more of them stuffed into the tiny cage. If things didn’t get better soon, they were going to start eating each other…

A chaotic flurry as a new group was dumped inside, the new ones running about in confusion while the old ones hissed and snapped defensibly warning against any attempt to go near their scarce food source. He pressed himself harder to the glass wall, and tried to keep from being noticed. 

The activity didn’t die down until well after the shop had shut down for the night. Either exhaustion or fear of retaliation was enough for many of them to calm down and settle into the bedding. A few brave, or perhaps foolish ones continued to scurry about, hoping to snag a food pellet or two, none of them having much luck. He pitied them, because each and every one of them were going to have to learn the same harsh lesson he had. He wondered how many of them would survive the week. Now that there were over a dozen new mouths to feed, things would be worse than ever.

One mouse, he noticed, was not hunting for food. At least, he didn’t think it was. Not unless this one thought it would materialize from the glass walls. It was inching along the far side of the cage, running it’s paws over the smooth, clear surface. It’s movements were quick, each one filled with purpose. As it made it’s way along the glass, it got closer to him. He shrank back where he sat, a spark of panic hitting him as he realized the creature would be upon him soon. Whimpering, he tried to make himself small, unworthy of attack.

When it was close enough to tell that it was, in fact, a she, the creature paused, her eyes meeting his own. He looked down, away from her as submissively as he could, silently begging her not to hurt him. He heard the shifting of bedding, and waited for the attack…

But none came.

By the time he was brave enough to look up again, she’d passed him, and continued on her inspection of the glass. She was moving away, and he found himself calming again. She hadn’t hurt him. He was fine.

Now that he wasn’t cowering, he took the chance to actually make a few observations of this odd mouse. It was a nice silky brown color, bright black eyes, it’s tail long and thin and flawless. She was rather beautiful. Very likely to get adopted, if she hadn’t been dropped in the hands of a failing store. 

Inch by inch, he watched her circle the place, slowly making her way around the entire cage, determined to find something. Not food, not water, something else. But what?

She’d almost reached him again when she finally stopped and stood on her back legs, her head tilted back, her whiskers completely still as she gazed determinedly at the top of the cage. It was in that moment he realized with a start, that she was trying to get out. No one ever got out. Ever. Besides, there was a cat out there, the owners pet. It would certainly take any one of them that managed to get out. She had to have known about this, the animal in question lay over on the cashiers desk in pain sight. 

As he watched, she began to pile bedding up next to the wall. Higher and higher that little pile went, slowly becoming a mountain It wouldn’t work, there wasn’t enough bedding in the entire cage to reach the top, and yet she still tried. 

Of course, she quickly ran out of material, and had to start gathering the wooden shavings from the rest of the floor. Of course, the other mice did not approve of this, obviously suspecting her of aiming for their food. He could only watch nervously as she was snapped at, a rush of anger flaring through him when one of them actually broke through the skin of her front leg and blood stained her otherwise silky clean fur. She didn’t make a sound, surprisingly enough.

And yet not once did she show any sign of giving up. He was impressed, and yet at the same time….she was going to get seriously injured if she didn’t stop soon. The mob of mice was shifting restlessly, and if they all turned on her….

No. 

For the first time in several days, he pulled himself from his corner and crawled toward her, entire body lowered to the floor, trying very hard not to appear threatening. He wasn’t even sure of what he was doing, what he thought he was going to accomplish in approaching her, he just knew that she had to stop tempting fate before something terrible happened. She turned to look at him, and despite his efforts to show how harmless he really was she let out a hiss. His mismatched eyes widened and he shrank away, ready to flee back into his corner….

Until he stepped on a fellow mouse, hidden under the bedding.

A wild squeak escaped him as pain flared through the offending leg, teeth ripping into the flesh and locking down, pulled back, trying to rip a hole into him that would likely be fatal. He struggled wildly, trying to get away, only assisting in the others efforts to hurt him more.

And then it just let go, and he darted away, rushing back toward the illusion of safety his corner provided, not stopping until he was curled up against the glass, entire body quivering. It wasn’t until a high pitched scream sounded did he look back. The brown mouse had the other pinned, her teeth wrapped tightly around it’s throat, blood coming from them both. His breath halted in his lungs as he waited for her to rip it’s jugular out….

But she didn’t. She let go and it scurried away from her, upsetting some of the other mice that had been roused from the struggle, and thus getting snapped at by them. She looked at him, panting, and he looked away, realizing with a start what had happened. She’d made it let him go.

She’d saved him.

The bedding shifted and he flinched, head jerking up to face her. She was bleeding almost as much as he was, bite marks littering her side and back, one in the sensitive flesh between one leg and her belly. If she cared about this in the slightest, she didn’t show it. Rather, she seemed more interested in his leg, which was seeping crimson onto the wooden shavings under him. After a moment, she began to sift through the light brown bits, and once she found one she was satisfied with she began to chew on it. He watched her, confused as she worked on it, shaping it into a long strip of flexible bedding. 

When she was happy with it, she brought it close to his leg. He gave a frightful squeak and jerked away, but she didn’t take no for an answer. She followed him and pressed the thing to his leg, wrapping it around the limb and letting it go. 

He stared at it for a long moment, unsure what to think about it. Part of him wanted to pull it off again, but….this was a human thing. It was helping the bleeding stop.

He would have never thought of this…

His attention darted back to her when she started away, back toward her pile. He hurriedly moved forward a couple steps and touched her tail with his paw, catching her just before she was out of reach. She turned to look down at him, her on two legs and him belly to the floor. 

Several seconds passed as he gazed at her, before he gave a soft, apologetic chatter, and then another, just a little louder, pleading. She was going to get hurt. He didn’t want her to….

She turned from him and started away, dismissing him, and before he could really think his actions through he grabbed for her, his teeth lightly grazing her back as his tiny claws scrabbled at her hind legs. 

He felt her tense under him, and quickly recoiled, whimpering fearfully as he shoved himself quite firmly into the corner, sure she would punish him for his insolence. But like the last time he’d cringed away from her, the expected blow never came. 

Instead, he felt a comfortable pressure against his side. He shivered softly and looked over at her, her bright black eyes gazing into his for a moment, before she settled down beside him, pointedly between him and the crowd.

Calming slightly, he relaxed for the first time in weeks, and let his eyes close. His breath slowing to match hers, he began to drift off. The next day would bring more chaos, more danger, and yet right at the moment he felt safe. He felt maybe, just maybe….

Everything would be alright.


End file.
